Let's Play Trickster Online! Chapter 1

(Pokemon Emerald is put on indefinite hiatus, by the way. Sorry to the folks that were looking forward to that, but my heart just wasn't into it. I wanted to cover an obscure game most people wouldn't have known about - that's just my style. Sailor Moon will still get chapters though, don't worry.)

This is the most apt departure from any video game I've ever covered for a let's play in that it is an MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game for the uninitiated), a genre I am actually not fond of barring this one game. Trickster was originally released in Korea during 2003 of all things and developed by Ntreev Soft - the US didn't get this game until 2007.

Normally, this would be a horrible choice for a let's play (even in video format) because games of these types pride themselves on never being able to end. That, and you'd have to grind to infinity if you want to make any decent progress - which if you know me, is a cardinal sin against fun.

That said, Trickster Online has many positives and an attractive artstyle (that, even at its weakest, is still alright) that makes the game worth playing.

The plot of Trickster is that the late Don Cavalier has organized a contest on Caballa Island and he's invited people from all over to compete for the prize - his fortune. It gets deeper than that, of course, but that'd be spoiler territory.

An unfortunate thing is that all the official Trickster servers were shut down in 2014... but a community of lovely people have kept the game going and even made improvements on the old system! (Aka. the version I'm playing today.)

I hope you're all prepared because this is gonna be the biggest Let's Play for a long time! Let's break it down in...

No matter how many times I hear this song, I'll never get sick of it - it's just too bouncy! (You need to get used to it too because you need to hear this every time you want to log in)

I should mention that the lovely title screen you see here is seasonal and that they change it every so often. (I'll show off new title screens when they come around, mostly because they tend to be really cute.)

Apologies about the screen size though, because this was the absolute smallest I could make it.

So, an interesting bit of trivia: there used to be more than one server. Trickster is a very old game and I remember Baby Dan checking in when the game was still in its heyday - the other server was originally called Fantasia or something, but I could never log onto it for some odd reason.

Also, remember the yellow slime fella on the server icon for later.

For now though, let's make a character!

There's four different classes separated by gender - the cute bruiser I'm going to be using today is the Bunny class, and she's going to be called Star Heart for maximum cuteness.

She and everything else in the world of Trickster is defined by these four types:

Power and Magic are as straightforward as they seem. Sense, on the other hand, deals with luck and Charm deals with health and defense. (I'll go into further detail when we start the game.)

That said, while I can only use the Bunny for this playthrough, the other characters are all great in their own way. They all have really cute designs that only get better as you advance to the next classes, but... that's something to worry about for another day.

(My favorite 1st job designs are both magic classes, the fox and the cat.)

Before we drop our new Bunny into the world, I just have to mention that all the player characters have their own reason for coming to the island. The Bunny's plot is that she's a master athlete that wanted to use the money from Don Cavalier's fortune to buy a pair of "mammoth leather" boxing gloves... very silly, I know.

That's fine and all, but how we about we add some spice to this playthrough?

: "Looks like I made it safe and sound!"

: "... Not counting how quickly I got seasick, but as long as I don't get on another boat..."

This, my friends, is my ideal "look" for Star Heart beyond what's shown in gameplay. (This isn't the end of it either, because I plan on making more portraits when she changes job classes.)

I figured I should do this to give her some more emotional depth because... you know, expanded LP plot with greater emphasis on how the main character feels about things.

: "If you want to start your adventure in [Caballa Island], you need to first complete your [Registration Form]."

: "How can I?"

Heidi is a mega cutie, by the way. She might also be a newer character than from when I first played Trickster, because I remember being greeted by guys in hawk suits (also known as the GMs/Game Masters) instead.

I should also take this time to mention that Trickster is a point and click game - I should stress that it wouldn't be interesting to me if it weren't for the amount of cool things you can do in this game.

: "If you head north and follow the path of the welcoming hula dancers, you’ll see a [Reception Building] and [Bunny Maid] standing in front."

: "Sounds good!"

Side note, I love how they show which NPC it is you need to talk to with a press of a button. That's neat.

: "Did you come to complete your [Registration Form]? If you give me your [Registration Form] then I can start the process right away! Once the registration has been completed you will receive a pack of equipment called the [Rookie Set]."

: "Here you go!"

[Star Heart gains half of a level just from doing that]

... Yep, that's really how we're doing things!

One of the most interesting and useful aspects of Trickster Online is that doing quests gives you experience. This isn't piddly stuff either - it's all proportionate to where you are in the game, with late game quests giving you as high as ten million EXP just for doing one part of a quest.

This is only one part of what makes playing Trickster worth it... and I am happy to spoil that this is not my first time playing. Heck, that's probably why I'm even doing this let's play to begin with!

: "It looks like everything is in order, so I’ll give you the [Rookie Set]. To finalize the registration, you will need to take a quick test. Please equip the [items] from your [Rookie Set]."

: "… A test?"[Gulps loudly]

Ha, get it, because she's a bu--

... My computer couldn't handle that one for some reason.

The design of the Bunny Maid makes me think she's an older Bunny character that switched jobs or something. I'm not the only person that sees it, right?

There's quite a bit to unpack with this HUD, but I'll break it down piece-by-piece.

All the important things have shortcut buttons, with Guild and Friend not being important to us. MyShop is... well, while Trickster Online is free and can be played completely solo, MyShop is an unfortunate reminder that there are microtransactions in this.

I should stress that nothing in My Shop is required to beat Trickster, but there's things in there that can't be obtained via normal gameplay. Every piece of equipment in the game is level-locked too, so you can't cheat doing this anyway.

: "Not exactly flattering but I'll take what I can get right now..."

Another cool thing about Trickster is that equipment actually shows up on your person. Some equipment... doesn't gel well for lack of a better word, but even this of all things has a fix. (You'll see what I mean later on.)

[A buzzing rings out in Star Heart's pocket. She jumps and pulls out a rectangular, phone-like object.]

: "... Rach... Rachel? Can you hear me? Did you make it to Coral Beach?"

: "Oh! It's you, mister Nebulos. Yeah, I made it."

: "Good, good. Just keep doing what you have to and you'll be just fine. I've added a bestiary function to your gear so you can identify the monsters on Caballa Island... just be careful, understand?"

When you look this cute, you probably won't be all that dangerous... sorry, little sea urchin.

Cards are... very complex things with many purposes. All you need to know right now is that they're unbelievably valuable and that there's cards for (almost) every monster in the game.

: "Noooo, what have I done!? I'm a monster!!"

You'll get used to it.

Besides, it's part of the Trickster contest to horribly slaughter the tiny bunnies... what the hell was Don Cavalier thinking?

Actual Gameplay Explanation: TM Level is different in that it's bonus points for your skills... yeah, you level up your skills too. There's missions that boost ONLY your TM Level because having a high TM level is required for certain quest chains.

This might be a good time to bring up "My View" because we actually gained some bonus points when we leveled up.

(Gah, this screen is always so satisfying to visit even if there's not much to do here.)

I'll explain the different attributes because understanding them is pivotal for knowing how this game works:

-AP: Physical attack power. Boosts the strength of melee weapons.AC: Physical attack accuracy. Boosts the strength of gun weapons.DX: The lower the number, the faster you attack with melee weapons. Right now we have 10+ frames of lag, but it can actually go into the negatives. In that case, it's actually a good thing because it removes lag frames.

-MP: The amount of MP you have. (Both physical and magical skills use this.)MA: Magic attack power.MD: Magic defense. (A crippling weakness of the Power types...)

-WT: Your carrying weight.... Yeah. We'll get to that one.DA: Detection ability. Further explained below.LK: Luck. Affects how often you block (completely negating an enemy's attack) or how often you land critical hits.

-HP: The amount of HP you have.DP: Physical defense.HV: How often you can avoid enemy attacks.

There's no need to pour bonus points into anything but Attack right now, so I'm doing just that.

Power Property and Resistance deal with elemental additions to your equipment, but we're a loooong way away from getting those... much less even putting them to use.

There's our girl.

The only thing that matters here is the "growth point" chart - this dictates how significantly your stats go up as you level up. Since we're 40% on Attack and Charm, our health, defense and attack are gonna be pretty good.

I will gradually introduce the Boss Seals, Secret and Titles when they become relevant.

You also have more slots than just "weapon" and "armor", as evidenced by the fashion tabs and "speed up" boot in the upper right corner.

I'm not quite sure what dictates this, but this version of Trickster has special multipliers for EXP and TM. That's really nice because it helps speed up the process.

This sidebar is where you can place item and skill shortcuts for quick use... you'll need it too, because you can't just click your way to victory.

There's also one more monster that I would have not covered if it didn't show up!

Yes, it's really called the PinkPink Penguin and it is level 40. It's a rare enemy that can occasionally show up every time you enter the area and killing it is worth your time no matter your level.

You do 1 damage no matter what, but it only has 10 HP anyway, so -

: "Get back here! The phone said I have to beat you up!"

: [Dazed groan]

Wow, that's what I get for trying to pick a fight with a monster that's level 40. Good thing revives are free right now, otherwise this would have been a problem.

Conversely, this is what happens when it dies:

... Which is pretty morbid in a funny way, not gonna lie.

: "All over [Caballa Island] are people that are in need of an adventurer’s help. Help those people and get stronger. I’m sure you will quickly find out what the goal of [the Trickster Game] is."

: "Oh I see!"

: ("Oh no, more work...")

: "Here in [Blooming Cora, there is a girl named [Winnie] that is looking for some help. Why don’t you lend her a hand?"

: "Sure, leave it to me!"

... I'm not quite fond of her eyes. They're uncannily large for some reason.

: "Ah! Did [Bunny Maid] send you? Well, it’s a good thing since I do need help. You will help me, right? If you do I will give you a [Young Egg pet.]"

: "What the heck is a Young Egg? … How do I help?"

She wants to know how the lifeguard back in Coral Field 1 is doing, but doesn't want to admit that she just wants to see him. You can't fool me, lass.

The Young Egg is the first of the "Pet" items that we can have as equipment - they're little companions that follow us around, but don't actually attack or anything like that. While I probably won't equip the Young Egg myself, you just need to see it for yourself:

This game has some really great, fluid animations. It's like this for almost the entire game, too!

Some clarification towards what the items on the mini-map entail. The landmarks really help me when it comes to traversing because the maps in this game get long-winded as the game goes on.

Whoof, look at this stud. He even has a heart tattoo on his shoulder and everything, the badass.

: "[Winnie] told you that she wanted me to call her? I told her that the beach would be dangerous and that she should stay in town. I guess she sent you instead of coming out herself."

Hold up, the beach is dangerous? Everything here is super docile, friend. (Not counting the penguin because it doesn't even friccin' live here.)

: "Heh! She isn’t my little sister by blood, but she definitely follows me around like she is. It looks like she’s lonely. I’ve been pretty busy these days and haven’t been able to play with her."

: "You mean you really don’t..."

: "Huh? What did you say?"

: "Ah, nothing..."

: "Heh! You’re kind of thick, aren’t you?"

: ("Rude...")

To be fair, we did pick a fight with a level 40 penguin.

He tells us the Tottochis are a problem for a woman called Tinnie and her volleyball practice, which brings up the question: why does the beach have so many monsters to begin with?

Is there an infestation of cute little critters or something?

: "Who is Tinnie-"

: "... Fine! I'll beat up the dumb little sea urchins. How'd I get suckered into doing this anyway?"

Ah, the age old classic of "beat up a certain monster x amount of times to complete the mission". I don't mind it too much, but there's times where it gets... pretty ridiculous, especially later into the game.

Steel Punch is the skill we start with as a Power type and... frankly it's not too bad, especially when compared to the skills the other classes get. It does its job just fine.

This would also be an important time to mention that skills have cooldowns as well as costing MP. This way you can't infinitely spam the same ability until your MP runs out. Pretty smart if I can say so myself.

Galder Coupons of any kind are pretty worthless. All they do is give you pocket change and some are even required for quests, but that's about it.

I remember playing this game as a Dragon and... hoo boy. Players who use the magic classes in this game kinda get the short end of the stick, because they're really hard to master.

You are very squishy and killing even a Torobbie took more than one shot, so god damn.

I love getting experience just from talking to people. It makes everything so convenient!

Pressing M summons a world map for the area you're in. Areas primarily consist of three to four maps, not counting their dungeons. It's very nice when they interconnect, but the most painful maps tend to be really far apart...

If everything's looking a bit orange-y, that's because Trickster has a day and night system. It's not quite real time, but it's nice to see how environments change color because of this.

(It's also not purely aesthetic as there's at least one or two quests affected by the time of day.)

Thiefmon is your ordinary monkey burglar that also happens to be a merchant sometimes. The "level 13" may seem intimidating compared to what you started off with, but they're marshmallows if you've been doing everything right.

Clione is the first of the monsters whose design I really liked, given how it's a little sea angel thing. It's also a magic monster that... has no spells or even magic power. Huh.

That's all well and good, but the most important thing about Clione is that its Card isn't just for show - it's one of those rare cards that increase the Mastery of a skill.

Their card's low drop rate makes them practically coveted by higher leveled players and it's especially important for us because it improves one of our skills. I might hunt them to oblivion for that reason alone, just saying.

Oh my god look at this guy. It's like Dan Avidan if he were a casanova wannabe.

He's delusional about Tinnie and even when we tell him straight up, he just brushes it off.

: "Hehe~ Since you brought me a message from my lovely [Tinnie] I will tell you something good."

: "… What?"

: "(He’s even worse than I imagined!)"

Okay, you weirdo. I guess we just have to go hunting these poor, innocent penguins then.

Like seriously. Can you tone down the cheese? I'm afraid the computer's gonna explode for the fifth time.

He hands us a Pocket Pouch for our bloody deed and tells us to equip it.

At the very least he's persistent. (I like the dialogue in this game, by the way. Right now it's about at its strongest, so just wait until the localization starts stiffening up and turns all Engrish.)

You might have noticed this bag icon at the top left: this is our carrying capacity. I guess this is to make the game more realistic and to put more value in the objects that you collect, but I never usually like inventory management.

If our weight goes over 100%, we will slow down and lose our ability to run... hence why getting equipment to relieve your weight is absolutely critical in this game.

Also, 18,000 Galder is not even chump change. Trust me on this one.

"Well, first of all you should meet [Don Giuvanni]. He is the one that manages the game and is currently preparing to train beginner adventurers. So make sure you meet him~"

: "Don Giuvanni, huh? Sounds like a big shot."

: "... Why am I so nervous about this...?"

Sounds like a smart idea, especially coming from this guy of all people.

The first of the optional quests here is this lass who will give you a monster hunting mission. She's part of a guild dedicated to hunting monsters and you kind of have to build your way up if you want anything substantial out of them.

I don't feel like taking on her mission though.

However, this lady is a different story. Explorer Reina is one of four specialists - in particular, she is the Sense specialist and her job is that she goes around digging for treasure. Right now she wants some water because we're in the desert.

Pressing Q on the keyboard brings up this handy-dandy quest menu that even goes as far as to specify which kinds of missions you have, as well as what kind of prizes you'll get once you complete them.

Here's the list:

* Normal quests are... well, quests assigned by random NPCs.
* Monster quests are the hunting missions we've already done.
* Party quests are special multiplayer missions done with a team of 2 or more people. They're essentially bigger monster hunts to compensate for the extra manpower the players have.
* Story quests have to deal with the actual plot of Trickster itself and are split up by chapters.
* Job quests are unique missions dedicated to promoting your character's class to the next level.
* Key quests will be elaborated on in chapter 2.

I kill enough Clione to get 5 bottles of water and hand them over to Reina.

: "Yup, [Harkon]. The [Harkon] is a legendary stone that shines brightly with the seven colors of the rainbow. It’s a mysterious gem that supposedly has great powers. I’m sure it’s worth a lot!"

: "Oooh, rainbows!": "It sounds out of my league though..."

Mama mia.

I mean. Uh. Nice baps.*Is slapped by Star Heart*

Nice to meet you indeed.

Okay in all seriousness, I just think she's cute. They knew what they were doing when they made her though, especially if she wanted to get the player's attention.

Another neat thing is that you get special prizes every time you reach a level milestone! Good muk.

The level 15 prize isn't that impressive, but the later ones certainly are. It's certainly a good idea to open them as soon as possible.

Whoa, lookit' them. Yeah, I guess the other important thing about let's playing an MMO is that... yeah, other people play the game too? Every screenshot is a potential moment captured in time, even more so than a normal game because everything's in real time.

Look at this smooth criminal though - the players that spend all their time on this game tend to have some bling.

: "Whoa... I wish I could look that cool!"

: ("Instead I have to walk around wearing this stupid duck equipment...")

Transitioning to and from a dungeon is often accompanied by these cute little transition images. I won't take screenshots of every transition but damn it this game is cute.

Have this surprisingly straight-forward cave with not much in it! We're not going to worry about Assistant Hunter and Warrior Kei - they're just more optional quests that we can freely skip.

I really like Addax's design and it's funny that they never re-use it past this cave (spoilers). His gimmick is that he hits twice in one attack, but that's about it.

... He looks like a dork, my god.

I mean, what else did I expect? (Megalo Company, though? Subtle, game...)

"Even though I have yet to formally become the president, there isn’t another well-qualified person other than me. Haha… therefore, the winner of the game will be chosen by me. But, you know, the one thing I hate the most is waiting."

: [Still snickering a bit]"Okay, sure."

He tells us to talk to Driller Marky (aka. the man in the yellow mascot costume) and get a "Drilling for Dummies" book out of him. Should be pretty easy.

I forgot to show it off when we started the game, but these chapter indications flash from time to time when you complete story missions. That's nice, I guess.

I feel bad for people who have to go around in costumes like these - the heat must be catastrophic, especially in an area like this. (What the heck is the Trickster mascot supposed to be, anyway? A mouse?)

You can tell this is where a lot of players hang out to drill and stuff. I'm not quite sure what's up with the sad face emoticon over their heads, but I've just accepted that as a "Trickster culture" thing.

He’ll give us a basic drill, a “cute pet” (whatever that means) and the book if we do a job for him. Sounds simple enough. To actually equip the drill he gives us, we have to put it on our person and press D on the keyboard to use it. It doesn’t even matter where we do it, you just have to press D.

… This also includes digging over water on wooden bridges somehow, but I’m not even going to start questioning this game’s logic.

Wow, the tutorial was ruined by the people auto-drilling all around us. Good job, internet.

Rule of thumb: an item drilled up by another person can't be picked up unless some time passes. Same thing goes for monster drops.

The defining feature of Trickster aside from combat is Drilling - you basically have to engage in a digging mini-game and hope that something pops up. (This is what DA or Detection Ability is used for.)

More often than not, you'll get "nothing found" instead... if you're in the middle of a quest and you desperately need an item from the ground, you'll learn to hate this message with all of your strength.

Digging has you barrel through different depths of rock, grass, whatever - the drill Marky gave us only goes up to 20 meters, but better drills go deeper and dig faster. If you push it too hard, the digging meter resets and you have to do it over again. (Gets really aggravating with deeper depths, boy lemme tell you.)

: "My strict regiment for you is not over yet! Go to [Paradise] and meet my special agent to start the second stage!"

: "Second stage?"

Long story short, he tells us to go to the Desert Town of Paradise and meet up with his agent, Robert. It's past Desert Beach Field 1 (there's two beaches back to back for some reason, but I'll take it).

: "Excuse me, Don Giuvanni, but isn’t there a quicker way to town?"

I'm infinitely thankful that Trickster has fast travel, otherwise the drag from walking back and forth between maps would have killed my enthusiasm for the game.

(The fast travel girls are marked on the map as wings, so that's a good way to keep track of them.)

: ("Sheesh, another rude person... Is this an omen for my stay here?")

: ("Man, I hate it here... I want to go home already...")

Their services do cost money, but they're never an obtuse price at the very least. (Also, what the heck is her dress supposed to be?)

Best Gal tells us to find Stargazer Stella in the next beach over. I'd follow her advice, but it seems like we're running out of time for this chapter.

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